Selectwoman Melissa Schlag’s decision to take a knee to protest the president during the Pledge of Allegiance last week has sparked an uproar in this small town and launched a spirited debate on social media about rules of protesting in the Age of Trump.

Schlag said she acted in response to President Donald Trump’s defense of Vladimir Putin after the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered with the 2016 election.

“I felt nervous when I did it but I also felt powerful,’’ said Schlag, a 43-year-old Democrat who knelt on one knee as the three other selectmen stood, hands on their hearts, and recited the pledge. “If I don’t speak up, those who can’t won’t be heard.”

Schlag’s quiet protest at the July 16 selectman’s meeting drew condemnation from the state’s top Republican official and criticism from some in Haddam, a bucolic community of about 7,200 situated along the gentle bends of the Connecticut River.

Pellegrini said he once supported Schlag, who served as first selectwoman before losing her re-election bid in 2015 and making a comeback two years later.

“I used to like her but I would never vote for her again,’’ Pellegrini said. “She's done as far as I'm concerned.”

But Bill Reinwald, who runs a barber shop in town, said he understands what prompted Schlag to act, even if he disagrees with the form her protest took.

“If Trump's behavior were better that would be one thing,’’ said Reinwald, 57. “All this stuff with Putin especially.”

“I support the flag,” Reinwald said, “but people have a right to do what they want.

“I guess this all started with (Colin) Kaepernick,” he added, of the NFL player who didn’t stand during “The Star Spangled Banner,” sparking a movement throughout the league and a nationwide discussion.

Mark Mirko / Hartford Courant

Saying it was a sign of respect for her country and not disrespect, Haddam Selectwoman Melissa Schlag took a knee during the pledge of allegiance before Haddam's July 19 board meeting.

Saying it was a sign of respect for her country and not disrespect, Haddam Selectwoman Melissa Schlag took a knee during the pledge of allegiance before Haddam's July 19 board meeting. (Mark Mirko / Hartford Courant)

Trump narrowly won Haddam in 2016 and he still has support in town. “I voted for him, but more importantly, I voted against the alternative,’’ David French, a 78-year-old retired state worker, said Tuesday before dashing into the post office in the center of Higganum. “I like Mike Pence, he's a very moral man.”

French continues to back Trump, though he’s troubled by the president’s inflammatory rhetoric.

“I wish him well,” French said. “I pray for him. … I think he's done some good things, but I wish he would just listen more.”

Debbie Dawson, a Middletown resident who’s a regular at Jack’s Country Restaurant on Route 81 in Higganum, dismissed Schlag’s protest as “totally inappropriate.”

“She took a knee and she refused to stand for the flag,’’ said Dawson, a 74-year-old retired administrative assistant. “There's a lot I objected about Obama but in a million years, I'd never do that. Country first.”

Schlag said she received a strong response from constituents as word of her protest spread. Some were positive, with people urging her to keep up her fight. Some were neutral, from voters who support her right to protest even if they disagree with her criticism.

And some were downright hostile, accusing Schlag of hating America. “I didn’t kneel because I hated my country,’’ she said. “I knelt because I love my country.”

Schlag, who supported Bernie Sanders in 2016, said she is opposed to many elements of the Trump agenda, including his immigration policies and his views on climate change.

She began thinking about how to register her disapproval when watching Kaepernick and other NFL players take a knee during the national anthem through much of the 2017 NFL season.

J.R. Romano, the chairman of the Republican Party in Connecticut, said Schlag’s protest is part of a larger movement of Democrats “trying to grab headlines and be in a perpetual state of rage.”

Schlag isn’t the only Connecticut River Valley elected official to bow down during the pledge of allegiance.

For the past year and a half, two members of the Region 17 school board — Democrat Eric Couture of Killingworth and Republican Maura Wallin of Haddam — have silently taken a knee while the pledge was recited.

“We started kneeling to protest the systemic racial injustice that continues to plague our society,’’ Couture said. “The final line of the pledge says ‘liberty and justice for all,’ but there are millions of Americans who don’t experience that. As a country, we should always be looking to be better than we were the day before and that's why I and the other board member have been protesting.’’

In contrast to the outrage Schlag’s protest has drawn, Couture said he is only aware of criticism from one constituent.

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Megan Ahern, business analyst for Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union, demonstrates the computerized check-in kiosk for driver’s license renewals to be performed in the credit union’s new Milford branch office, starting Thursday, under a contract with the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

Megan Ahern, business analyst for Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union, demonstrates the computerized check-in kiosk for driver’s license renewals to be performed in the credit union’s new Milford branch office, starting Thursday, under a contract with the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

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Megan Ahern, business analyst for Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union, demonstrates the computerized check-in kiosk for driver’s license renewals to be performed in the credit union’s new Milford branch office, starting Thursday, under a contract with the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

Megan Ahern, business analyst for Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union, demonstrates the computerized check-in kiosk for driver’s license renewals to be performed in the credit union’s new Milford branch office, starting Thursday, under a contract with the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

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U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson toured the home of Maggie and Vincent Perracchio in Willington on Monday with U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, U.S. Representative Joe Courtney and Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman to see first hand the crumbling condition of the home's foundation.

U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson toured the home of Maggie and Vincent Perracchio in Willington on Monday with U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, U.S. Representative Joe Courtney and Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman to see first hand the crumbling condition of the home's foundation.

Six inmates at the Willard-Cybulski Correctional Institution earned a certificate degree in Advanced Manufacturing Machine Technology from Asnuntuck Community College on Monday morning at the Cybulski Community Reintegration Center in Somers.

Six inmates at the Willard-Cybulski Correctional Institution earned a certificate degree in Advanced Manufacturing Machine Technology from Asnuntuck Community College on Monday morning at the Cybulski Community Reintegration Center in Somers.

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Tenants of Clay Arsenal Renaissance Apartments read letters from HUD that were found taped to their doors, the answer to their eleven months of activism

Tenants of Clay Arsenal Renaissance Apartments read letters from HUD that were found taped to their doors, the answer to their eleven months of activism